Downtown New Bedford will be filled with music and hands-on creativity while we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. It’s all happening on Thursday, October 8th for AHA! Night: Tunes, Treats & Creative Streets.
Congress established the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park on November 12, 1996, to tell the stories of New Bedford’s whaling history, its working waterfront, and its role in the Underground Railroad. This AHA! Night, we’re celebrating the park’s 30th anniversary! Kick off the festivities by picking up a 30th Anniversary Collector Card at the Visitor Center, paint it with watercolors, then fill in your card by collecting anniversary stamps throughout downtown New Bedford (4-8:00 PM). Keep filling up your card during AHA! Nights and throughout the year to create a keepsake and celebrate 30 Years of People, Places, & Possibilities. And don’t forget to return for AHA! Night on November 12, the park’s official 30th anniversary. At the Visitor Center, the park’s 1850s Ladies will also share traditional techniques and recipes for “putting up” food for the colder months. Through costumed living history, they bring the past to life with authentic clothing, stories, and hands-on demonstrations based on real historical practices. (5:30-7:30 PM) As part of the anniversary celebration, the Nathan and Polly Johnson House will be open to guests, courtesy of the New Bedford Historical Society. The house at 21 Seventh Street is a designated National Historic Landmark, an official partner site, and a featured site on the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. Nathan and Polly Johnson, prominent African American abolitionists in New Bedford, sheltered many people escaping slavery. It was here, in September 1838, that Frederick Douglass found freedom, a new name, and, with his wife Anna, his first home in freedom. Bring your Collector Card to get it stamped after you explore this important place! (5:30-7:00 PM)

AHA stands for Art, History, and Architecture, and a free AHA! Night Tour covers all three. Explore downtown New Bedford’s rich culture, public art, and striking historic architecture, with stops along the way to take in some of the evening’s live experiences. Docent tours are led by our friends at New Bedford Food Tours and begin at 5:00 and 5:30 PM by the AHA! welcome table in the Star Store. Tours last approximately 45-60 minutes, and you’re welcome to hop off at any point to explore other AHA! Night activities on your own. No registration required.

There are seven ways to explore and create at the Star Store, inside and out: a printmaking workshop with artist Taylor Hickey supported by DATMA; a bilingual paper embroidery workshop with Paulinarte Art & Writing Collective; the opening of Salty Stitches, a textile exhibition by Cheryl Deane, with a hands-on embroidery activity; the American Dream exhibition featuring ten artists; Ben Berke’s Dead Whale City screen-printing pop-up; folklore creature tracking with the Trustees’ Mobile Adventures team; and monster rock and black cat painting with the New Bedford Art Museum’s ArtMOBILE. (5-8:00 PM)

That’s just a fraction of what’s happening this AHA! Night. We hope you can join the fun. Complete details are on our website, with more information and activities added daily.